Jane Addams center partners with companies to place trainees in skilled positions

As a successful graduate of the Jane Addams Resource Corp.'sadult training program, James Skiles is welcomed like a rock star at the North Side facility these days.

The 42-year-old — who was homeless less than a year ago, bouncing between retail jobs — said he now has a full-time role as a drill press operator at a Chicago factory where he's on track for a promotion and lives happily in the suburbs with his girlfriend.

The Jane Addams Resource Corp. is a workforce development organization that helps adults with obstacles get back to work. When graduates like Skiles return to the Ravenswood facility to speak to classes, they can show students, who are struggling to get back on their feet after jail time or other setbacks, that changing the course of their lives is possible with hard work.

"I just always felt like I was trying to get something better," Skiles said. "In a year's time, everything turned around."

The Jane Addams Resource Corp., or JARC, is one of the many local nonprofits that receive financial support through Chicago Tribune Charities, a McCormick Foundation Fund.

Each year about 100 adults are trained for and connected with better than minimum-wage paying manufacturing jobs, said the facility's Associate Director Regan Brewer. Most program participants, who must be 18 or older, come from low-income backgrounds, have transportation issues, child-care issues, criminal backgrounds and/or may not have graduated high school or have a GED.

The one requirement for training placement: an enthusiasm to work hard, Brewer said.

Participants, who are interviewed and vetted before starting the program, must treat the welding and machine operation training like a job, Brewer said. They clock in and out, must show up on time and work with a team to fulfill work orders or their assignments. Only people who are highly motivated to get back to work are accepted and can stay in the training programs, which can last up to seven months, Brewer said.

"People that don't have manufacturing backgrounds can get accustomed to working in an environment that's similar to a manufacturing facility," Brewer said.

When needed, technical training, like learning to write programs to operate computer numerical control machines, is supplemented by remedial education classes. For adults who may have a GED but need to brush up on some math skills before starting the hands-on training, the center offers classes in reading and math and also some computer literacy instruction.

The classes are also meant to give the trainees a boost in whatever manufacturing track they're pursuing, so math classes might involve studying blueprints for machine operations. For reading class, students might pore over an employee handbook, saidHayley Crabb, the center's development director. About half of the program applicants need this extra educational boost, Crabb said, as a ninth-grade reading and math level is required.

The center's setup leaves little room for excuses. The program provides transportation, often in the form of CTA passes, for participants who can't get a ride to the facility. For parents of young children, center staff will help find child care and assist with other needs.

Trainees don't have to pay for the program because of government grants and private donations. The program, which is open enrollment year-round, accommodatesabout 35 trainees at any given time throughout the year, and qualified candidates can enroll any time when funding is available.

To help trainees find jobs once they complete the program, the center partners with employers like the North Side's Howe Corp. That's where Skiles said he works, making $13 an hour with medical benefits and after a year, a 401K plan.

Program supervisors said they like to think of the center as a revolving door for successful trainees. Some instructors are program graduates, and some trainees, like Joseph Long, have aspirations to come back and help those who face circumstances similar to theirs.

Long, 24, is a trainee and shift supervisor at the center. Several months into the program, he called it "the best decision I've made in awhile." He is currently on a prison work release program and said the center has provided the stability and training he's been looking for.

Long, who expects to be released from prison in 2016, said he is optimistic about launching his career then.

Brewer said the program focuses on filling gaps in the machining industry. Skilled workers who can operate machines that create parts for industries like health care and aerospace are often in demand.

Long said he expects to make $14 to $20 an hour when he graduates from the program, but he said he would also enjoy returning to the center as an instructor.

"It's been a lifesaver," he said of the program. "It's time for a change. This is what's going to bring me to it."

The center also offers supplemental assistance like financial advising for graduates. Skiles said he's been working alongside a financial adviser to boost his credit rating. He may also return in a few months to get new certifications for his job.

Without these new skills, Skiles said:"I probably would still be like a hamster on that wheel. I probably would've gotten another retail job and worked that until something better came long."